Female Technology Education Teachers’ Experiences of Finnish Craft Education

In order to introduce a more equitable gender balance in education and consequently in the labour market, it is highly relevant to continue to expand our knowledge of technology education and to give attention to gender related issues. The ultimate purpose of this study was to contribute to efforts to get more women to study technology and pursue technological careers by investigating their experiences. To approach this, the aim was to offer an overview of the gendered processes that girls and women may experience when studying and working in the area of technical craft and technology education. The study was carried out using semi-structured theme interviews, and the data were collected fr…

Development of teacher education students’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through reflection and a learning-by-doing approach in craft and technology education

The approaches of learning by doing and making have always been inherent components of Finnish craft and technology education. Craft is a practical subject that involves many hands-on activities during which students actively practice experimentation, investigation, invention, problem-solving and designing skills. The same ideology is utilised in craft and technology teacher education courses at the University of Jyväskylä. The overall purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of the development of teacher education students’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in craft and technology education through reflection and the learning- by-doing approach. To achieve this goal, stude…

Women in technology-oriented fields

This study focuses on investigating the main elements that have an effect on women’s decisions to enter a career in technology-oriented fields, and more specifically, to discover whether studying crafts, especially technical work, during basic education affects their decisions in this context. The study was carried out using a semi-structured questionnaire, and the data consist of the responses from 12 female technology education teachers and 12 female engineering students. A qualitative theory oriented content analysis was carried out through identifying, coding, analysing and reporting the patterns within the data. The findings revealed that the most influential career anchor identified b…

Identifying Past and Current Trends in Technology Education in Finland

Technology education makes a unique contribution to the development of all young people by providing them a wide range of knowledge and skills. It has a role in shaping future debates and discourses by developing students’ technological literacy and by raising awareness of various dimensions of technology. In order to understand technology education in Finnish basic education, it is necessary to consider it within the subject of craft, particularly the domain of technical craft activities. However, the role of technology education has been and still is undefined in Finland. Thus, we need strategic planning and research in order to develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve i…

Professori Emerita Anneli Eteläpellon haastattelu

Professori Emerita Anneli Eteläpelto, olet tenhyt pitkän sekä kansallisella että kansainvälisellä tasolla merkittävän uran tutkijana. Kerrotko lyhyesti työhistoriastasi sekä siitä, miten sinusta alkujaan tuli tutkija? nonPeerReviewed

Increasing girls' interest in technology education as a way to advance women in technology

Technology-oriented fields are still largely male-dominated, and an effective approach for increasing the number of women in natural science and technology careers has not yet been achieved in EU countries. A related concern, particularly in Finland, is that even though gender equality and non-discrimination have long been critical concerns in education to date there has been very little of research in Finland about girls’ motivations towards technical craft or technology education, nor about their relation to women’s career aspirations in technology-oriented fields. The present study is my contribution to the concern of getting more women into technology by investigating how to increase gi…

Gender and Technology Education

Current and future trends and issues facing technology education in Finland : Taking part in an international Delphi study

This study is part of an international research collaboration aimed at identifying current and future trends and issues in technology education in Belgium, Finland, Japan and the USA. The three-round Delphi method was utilised to solicit information from technology education stakeholders in Finland from November 2019 to April 2020. The panel of experts (N=31) comprised technology education teacher educators, researchers and experts of the national LUMA (STEM) 2020 programme and technology education developers. During the Delphi process both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized in gathering information and analysing the findings. In this article the focus is on comparing the…

An example of making

Learning by Doing and Creating Things with Hands : Supporting Students in Craft and Technology Education